To a question that was sent to him by one of the members of the audience. What is a Hindu? What is the origin of the world? Is there anything called Hinduism?
These were pertinent questions for the time. Gandhiji stated, “I am not a historian. I lay claim to no learning but I have read in some authentic books on Hinduism that the word “Hindu” did not occur in the Vedas, but when Alexander the Great invaded India, the inhabitants of the country to the east of Sindhu were described as Hindus. The letter “S” had become “H” in Greek. The religion of these inhabitants became Hinduism and, as they knew it, it was a most tolerant religion. It gave shelter to the early Christians who had fled from persecution, also to the Jews known as Beni-Israel, as also to the Parsis. I am proud to belong to that Hinduism, which was all-inclusive and which stood for tolerance. The Aryan scholars swore by what they called Vedic religion, and Hindustan was otherwise known as Aryavarta. I have no such aspiration. Hindustan of my conception was all-sufficing for me. IT certainly included the Vedas, but it included also much more. I could defect no inconsistency in declaring that I could, without any whatsoever impairing the dignity of Hinduism, pay equal homage to the best of Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. And such Hinduism will live as long as the sun shines. Tulsidas summed it up in one doha: “The root of religion is embedded in mercy, whereas egotism is rooted in love of the body. Tulsi says that mercy should never be abandoned, even though the body perishes”
M.K Gandhi
21 November 1947
Source: Gandhi Smriti. New Delhi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZBbLoLaR-E
